My patent application relates to removing integrated circuit elements from flatpack frames and inserting them into carriers.
It has been the practice in the past to accomplish the above in several separate operations. Initially, the singly formed integrated circuit flatpack frame was placed into a cutting fixture which severed the supporting portion of the frame feeding the testable integrated circuit flatpack. Multiples of the frame, generally up to six, could be placed into the cutting fixture. The severed integrated circuit flatpack and the frame remnants were then placed bulk into a suitable box or container. At a separate station, the individual integrated circuit flatpacks were removed from the container using either tweezers or fingers. The electrical polarity requirements were visually verified and the flatpack then placed into the appropriate carrier. The filled carrier was then placed into a bulk bin or container ready for subsequent operations. There were two distinct problems with this procedure. The most serious was the potential physical damage to the severed integrated circuit flatpack which was constructed to specific physical dimensions permitting uniform assembly procedures by the end user of the product. Sufficient physical deformation of the integrated circuit flatpack when being placed into the carrier could render the integrated circuit flatpack unusuable by the end user. The visual verification of the physical characteristic for electrical polarity was tedious and error productive.
The electrical polarity of the device determined the physical placement of the integrated circuit flatpack into its carrier. Erroneous placement would be detected as an electrically rejected integrated circuit flatpack in subsequent electrical testing.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for performing these processes at a single station requiring one operator. By virtue of this condition, the reduced physical handling of this integrated circuit component will have a significant impact in increasing the yield and a general improvement in the overall physical condition of the component. Additionally, it is an object to reduce the error condition of placing the integrated circuit component in the test carrier with improper electrical polarity. This is accomplished by use of a receiver nest that can detect improper placing of the integrated circuit flatpack frame in the machine. The machine will not operate when a frame is not correctly positioned in the nest.
An additional object, and certainly not the least is a significant increase in productivity. The use of a single coordinated machine to perform the described tasks will increase production up to eighteen times the current production levels. Through use of the basic system which involves one at time placement of the integrated circuit flatpack frame, production is increased up to five (5) times that of the current process. Additions to the system of the use a frame clip, a strip or a reel increase the production capabilities to the eighteen times levels of productivity. Further objectives and advantages of my invention wil be understood from the following description, read with reference to the drawings.